COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS IN SUPPORT

OF PETROARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES: AN OVERVIEW

T. BIRÓ KATALIN

Key words: lithic raw materials, comparative collection, survey

Introduction

Reference collections, physical and virtual, areof special importance for modern archaeology.1They serve access and interoperability, i.e., help usto know our basic conceptual categories better.Reference collections for comparative purposeshelp to identify and fingerprint the materials usedby prehistoric - and historical - population and areimperative to preserve ancient knowledge.

Comparative raw material collections can serveas an important tool for the investigation ofarchaeological lithic assemblages. One of the oldestand best documented collection of this type ishoused at the Hungarian National Museum. It ispart of the Archaeological Collection, operatingaccording to normal museum regulations and it iscertainly one of the most popular and visited - used- collections of our Museum.

The existence of the Budapest Lithotheca owesmuch to the systemic mind of Viola Dobosi, hersense and devotion to order which is at the heart ofany museum collection. She was instrumental inturning a large heap of stones, collected in course ofa survey on archaeological and historical rawmaterials co-ordinated by József Fülöp, key figureof Hungarian geology in the 1970-ies and 1980-ies2

into an organised and meaningful museumcollection. The base fond of the LithothecaCollection was obtained during a long series offieldwork all over Hungary conducted by theHungarian Geological Institute aiming at

1 LANGE ed. 2004.2 FÜLÖP 1984.

discovering the raw material basis of prehistoriccommunities; an interesting and promising field ofresearch for documenting the movements andeconomy of prehistoric communities.3 Viola Dobosihad previously raised the problem in an importantarticle on the raw material basis of prehistoriccommunities4 but this is not an issue one can easilysolve alone. Realising the potentials of a collection-and-database approach, she offered "home" for thecollection in the Hungarian National Museum andhelped in the primary elaboration and inventorisingof this specific collection.

The first catalogue was published in 1991 bythe Museum,5 theoretical and practical questions ofcollection management raised and published onseveral forums of petroarchaeology and flintstudies.6

The second volume of the catalogue waspublished ten years later,7

The starting fond was published on the internetin a bilingual database illustrated with colouredphotos8 and the Lithotheca collection was one ofthe first fully digital inventory databases of theHungarian National Museum.9

3 BIRÓ 1984; BIRÓ—PÁLOSI 1986; BIRÓ 1986.4 DOBOSI 1978.5 BIRÓ—DOBOSI 1991.6 BIRÓ—DOBOSI 1990; BIRÓ 1990; BIRÓ 1992.7 BIRÓ et al. 2000.8 http://www.ace.hu/litot/indexe.html9 BIRÓ 2008.

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Figure 1.: Questionnaire on comparative lithic raw material collections

1. ábra: Kérdőív az összehasonlító nyersanyaggyűjteményekről

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 227

Regional aspects

The Lithotheca of the Hungarian NationalMuseum is a "world collection" in the sense thatit contains hand specimens from all the fivecontinents. We receive gifts, exchange samplesand sometimes have the possibility to collect onfar-away territories, out of the reach of theprehistoric population. It is evident, though, thatthe coverage of the comparative raw materialcollection should focus on "home affairs", i.e.,the raw materials potentially used and traded bythe peoples inhabiting the territory of present-dayand historical Hungary. We have far betterchances to be really representative for the regionwe actually know - not forgetting that acomparative collection can never be reallycomplete; raw material sources can disappear, getexploited or covered by sediments. The chancesto cover an area well naturally decrease bydistance from the sources. Another critical pointis the diachronical coverage; siliceous rawmaterials and glassy/homogeneous substanceslike obsidian will be adequate for chipped stonetools, used in the Palaeolithic and in the younger"lithic" periods but in the latter times, longdistance import is realised more by polished stoneraw materials. The variety of lithic raw materialsto be collected is extended essentially as weproceed towards younger prehistoric periods.

Fortunately, our efforts are not isolated. Inrecent years, more and more regional collectionswere founded with similar objectives. The presentpaper is intended to serve as a germ for collectingsuch efforts. We should know about the work ofother people on this interdisciplinary,interregional and networking field to maximisethe benefit of comparative collections supportingpetroarchaeological work.

Survey of Lithothecas

Questionnaire

The petroarchaeological information basis,unfortunately, is not easy to collect because thesecollections, even if they exist and are available,rarely get published. As a method to gatherinformation, I have used two basic techniques:asked colleagues (on e-mail), starting with the

Flint mining research group of UISPP and tried tocollect information on the internet.

For the personal way of gatheringinformation, I made a simple questionnaire to askfor the basic data (Fig. 1). I am most grateful toall colleagues who contributed with information10

and especially those who completed thequestionnaire.11

Altogether 13 persons completed thequestionnaire till 31.12.2010, about 21comparative raw material collections in 11countries.

Internet survey

In course of surveying data for comparativeraw material collections I was trying to usevarious orthographies in search of the subject togive full coverage if available (Table 1).summarises my results that I could "google"(date: 15.01.2011) using different orthographiesfor comparative collections, including somelanguage variants (and probably omitting others,too).

It is evident, that I could not reach all theexisting Lithothecas, but I believe it is a goodstart and we can always complete the database.Hopefully this survey contains the publiclyavailable electronic data services on comparativelithic raw material collections and we areplanning to update the links regularly. Moreover,this summary will be passed to flintsource.net forwider availability.

Orthography for search

Lithotheca is a composite word of partlyGreek12 and partly Greco/Latin13 origin.

10 Information received from Michael Brandl, Cyril

Marcigny, Martin Oliva, Naama Goren, JavierBaena, Jacques Pelegrin, Paolo Biagi, AnneHauzeur, Gillian Varndell, Elisabetta Starnini,Gheorghe Lazarovici, Michael Baales, DavidField, Alan Saville.

11 Questionaire comleted by Gerhard Trnka, JehanneAffolter, Fabio Negrino, Javier Baena, MagdaMantu, Vin Davis, Debbie Olausson and AndersHögberg, Beatrix Nutz, Jehanne Féblot-Augustins,Cristian Roman, Xavier Mangado Llach, XavierTerradas, Elena Cristina Nitu.

12 lithos, http://www.etymonline.com/

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Table 1.: Comparative raw material collectionsby Google (~Lithotheca)

1. táblázat: Összehasonlító nyersanyag-gyűjtemények (~Litotéka) említése a világhálón(Google adatok)

Form Google query results (nr)Lithothèque 121000 (many of them of

primarily geological interest)

Litoteca 4400

Lithothek 4370

Lithotheca 473

Litotéka 202

Litotheca 57

Lithotéka 3 (all HNM Lithotheca)

It is used in several orthographic variants formany languages. The standard way of writing inHungarian is Litotéka and we use the formLithotheca in publishing in English (mostly...).There are, however, many language variants andinconsequent spelling (not to speak ofÖsszehasonlító nyersanyaggyűjtemény14 on anylanguage). It is also possible that not all thereferences found are comparative raw materialcollections for petroarchaeological purposes andthough I tried to pop up most, of course I couldnot see all.

I do not think that I could locate all theLithothecas all over the World but it is areasonable start you are most welcome to join,any time!

Countries with Lithotheca

Let us start with Hungary, as naturally Iknow the situation here the best.

Lithotheca of the HNM

We have one of the oldest internationalcollection, founded in 1986 in connection withthe International conference on prehistoric flintmining and lithic raw material identification in

13 theca, Latin expression, from the Greek expression

case to put anything in http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/

14 Comparative raw material collection in Hungarian.

the Carpathian Basin.15 The scope is centred onthe Carpathian Basin with essential exchange andcollecting activity in Europe and sporadical itemsfrom all the five continents. The Lithotheca ispart of the Prehistoric Collection of theHungarian National Museum and up to now,contains 2082 items (5517 pieces) from 998localities (Fig. 2a, 2b, 2c - HNM Lithotheca sitemaps). It is curated by Katalin T. Biró(tbk@ace.hu), with the invaluable help of ViolaDobosi and András Markó, both working in thePalaeolithic Collection of the HNM. Thecollection is inventorised according to normalmuseum regulations and is one of the fullycomputerised collections in the HNM.16 Twocatalogue volumes have already been publishedfor the periods 1986-198917 and 1990-1999,18

respectively; currently we are working on theCatalogue Vol. III. (2000-2010 in preparation)and the electronic version of the previous twocatalogues. The base fond of the Lithotheca, theHungarian type collection is available in twolanguages (English/Hungarian) with colouredimages at www.ace.hu/litot.

The analytical work on the referencecollection involves various techniques ofpetrographical, mineralogical, geochemical andphysical analyses like petrographical thin sections(TS), neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-raypowder diffraction analysis (XRD), electronenergy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-rayfluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), prompt gammaactivation analysis (PGAA), infra-redspectroscopy (IR), proton induced X-ray andgamma ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE-PIGE)and fission track dating (FTD). By 2000, 1790analyses were reported,19 currently we estimatethat about 20 % of the Lithotheca collection hasbeen subjected to analytical studies.

15 Sümeg conference BIRÓ ed. 1986, 1987.16 BIRÓ 2008.17 BIRÓ—DOBOSI 1991.18 BIRO et al. 2000.19 BIRÓ et al. 2000; on one piece, the combination of

several investigation techniques is typicallyperformed because these techniques arecomplementary in many respect. The principle is toinvestigate the geological reference material fullyand try to pin-point the non-invasive techniques forthe analysis of the archaeological items.

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 229

Figure 2a.

Figure 2b.

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Figure 2c.

Figure 2.: Raw material samples in the Lithotheca Collection of the Hungarian National Museum.

Key of symbols: ● obsidian (geological sources) ○ obsidian (from archaeological sites); ● siliceous rocks(geological sources) ○ siliceous rocks (from archaeological sites); ● other rocks (for polished stone toolsand other stone utensiles, geological sources) ○ other rocks (for polished stone tools and other stoneutensiles, from archaeological sites).2a: on a World map; 2b: on the map of Europe; 2b: in the Carpathian Basin

Data: HNM Lithotheca catalogues and inventory databas. Map: Balázs Holl

2. ábra: A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Litotéka gyűjteményének nyersanyagmintái.

Jelkulcs: ● obszidián (geológiai lelőhelyről) ○ obszidián (régészeti lelőhelyről); ● kovakőzetek (geológiailelőhelyről) ○ kovakőzetek (régészeti lelőhelyről); ● egyéb kőzetek (csiszolt kőeszköz és szerszámkőnyersanyag, geológiai lelőhelyről) ○ egyéb kőzetek (csiszolt kőeszköz és szerszámkő nyersanyag, régészetilelőhelyről).2a: világtérképen; 2b: Európa-térképen; 2b: a Kárpát-medencébenAdatok: MNM Litotéka katalógus és leltári adatbázis. Térkép: Holl Balázs

The collection is open to research accordingto general museum regulations; the permanentarchaeological exhibition of the HNM is alsousing the Lithotheca material for presenting the

most important lithic raw materials to the generalpublic (Fig. 3.: Lithotheca material in thepermanent archaeological exhibition of theHNM).

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 231

Figure 3.: Lithic raw materials presented for the public on the permanent archaeological exhibition of theHNM

3. ábra: nyersanyagminták a Litotéka gyűjtemény anyagából a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum állandó régészetikiállításán

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Figure 4.: Lithic raw mterial samples of the Viena Lithotheca (VLI).

Key of symbols: ● localities of the lithic raw material samples.4a: on a World map; 4b: on the map of Europe.Data: VLI, courtesy of Gerhard Trnka. Balázs Holl.

4. ábra: A bécsi Litotéka (VLI) gyűjteményének nyersanyagmintái.

Jelkulcs: ● különféle nyersanyagminták lelőhelye.4a: világtérképen; 4b: Európa-térképen.

Adatok: VLI Litotéka, Gerhard Trnka adatbázisa. Térkép: Holl Balázs

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 233

There are no more dedicatedpetroarchaeological collections in Hungary;however, at the ELTE University, Department ofPetrography and Geochemistry, a small studycollection was made for educational purposes.Moreover, many current studies are documentedthere.20 The same University operates one of theextensive general mineralogical andpetrographical collections in the framework ofthe ELTE Natural History Collection.

Austria

Vienna-Lithothek (VLI)

An important and large comparative rawmaterial collection has been set up in Vienna byGerhard Trnka. It was founded in 1996. It isextended to multiregional samples from all overthe world, mainly European chert samples. It ishoused in the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichteder Universität Wien, (Franz Klein-Gasse 1, A-1190). The collection is curated by GerhardTrnka (gerhard.trnka@univie.ac.at) withcollaboration of Michael Brandl. The collectioncomprises, according to the list kindly suppliedby G. Trnka, 648 items from approx. 470 sites.There is a GPS-ID list for the samples, on thebasis of which we could chart the localities (Fig.4a, 4b). The collection is open to scholarlyresearch and exchange with other collections.

Silex Lithotheca of the Institute of Archaeology,University of Innsbruck

Internet search provided another Austrianreference collection (Lithotheca Transalpina),curated at the Innsbruck University.21 Informationwas provided for this article by Beatriz Nutz.Accordingly, the collection was officiallyfounded in 2007. The focus of the collection is onNorthern Alpine chert and radiolarite varieties ofNorth Tyrol and Vorarlberg (Austria), SouthAlpine varieties of South Tyrol and NorthernItaly.

It is housed at the Institute of Archaeology,University of Innsbruck, Langer Weg 11, 6020

20 for the details, see SZAKMÁNY 2009.21 HOLDERMANN 2004.

Innsbruck, Austria, curated by Dr. Walter Leitner(walter.leitner@uibk.ac.at).

They store currently 197 data sets in thedatabase. The collection is open to scholarlyresearch. They have a moderate exchange stock,on request small amounts of Northern Alpinechert and radiolarite can be provided. There issome internet-based information available on thecollection and related project.22. Analysis of thecollection is in progress.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, importantpetroarchaeological research is devoted topetroarchaeological problems.23 However, Ireceived only answer from Martin Oliva from theAnthropos Institute, Brno, stating that they alsohave a small collection of lithic samples, housedin the Institute (Zelý trh 6, Brno), but with noname and not too systematically collected. Theyare also interested in exchange of specimens.

France24

The Lithothèque du nord-ouest du BassinAquitain was founded in the 1980-ies. As thename indicates, its primary scope is collectinglithic raw materials from the North-West of theAquitain Basin as well as the valley of the riverGaronne and the Northern part of Dordogne.

It is housed at Musée national de Préhistoiredes Eyzies, - curated by Alain Turq(alain.turq@culture.gouv.fr). The collectioncomprises hundreds of sites of primary andsecondary silex deposits. The collection is opento scholarly research. The collection issystematically analysed frommicropalaeontological point of view,

22

http://www.uibk.ac.at/himat/pps/pp05/lithothek.html.en, http://www.uibk.ac.at/himat/pps/pp05/sio2-datenbank.html.en,http://www.uibk.ac.at/himat/pps/pp05/lithothek.html.en, http://www.uibk.ac.at/himat/pps/pp05/sio2-datenbank.html.en.

23 PRICHYSTAL 2009.24 Several people informed me about a Lithotheque

operated by Paul Fernandes, leading a project tocollect information on existing referencecollections in France.

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petrographical analysis is in progress.Publications by A. Turq give further informationon this collection.25

Information on three French comparativecollections (Bugey, Charente, UMR7055) wasprovided by J. Féblot-Augustins.

Lithothèque du Bugey. Echantillons de référence

Founded in 2004, by J. Féblot-Augustins.Focused on raw material samples for prehistoricraw materials in Bugey region (Ain, France).Housed at (institution): UMR 7055 - Préhistoireet Technologie. Maison de l'Archéologie et del'Ethnologie - René Ginouvès. 21, allée del'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France.Curated by Jacques Pelegrin(jacques.pelegrin@mae.u-paris10.fr). Thecollection comprises several hundred (3-400)items from 73 localities; 51 petrographic typeswere distinguished among them. It is open toscholarly research and they have a restrictedamount of exchange material. The analyticalwork on the collection is based on combiningmacroscopic characterisation and sedimentarymicrofacies analysis under the stereoscopicbinocular microscope; all the collected sampleswere analysed (100%).

Information is available in the framework ofthe Flintsource webpage,26 Other relevantpublications include various papers by J. Féblot-Augustins.27

Lithothèque du bassin de la Charente

Founded in 2005, by J. Féblot-Augustins, S.-J. Park & A. Delagnes, focusing on raw materialsamples from the Charente river basin (France).The collection is housed at the Muséed’Angoulême (Angoulême 16000, France),curated by Jean-François Tournepiche(jftbill@aol.com). It is comprising 183 itemsfrom123 localities, open both to professionals andthe general public. They have available exchangestock

Analysis of the material is in progresscombining macroscopic characterization andsedimentary microfacies analysis under thestereoscopic binocular microscope; all the

25 TURQ et al. 1999, TURQ 2000; 2003.26 http://www.flintsource.net/flint/ infF_bugey.html27 FÉBLOT-AUGUSTINS 2005; 2007; 2009a; 2009b

collected samples were analysed; full descriptionsavailable for 57% (105 samples from 53localities). Internet information on the collectionis available28 other relevant publication is by J.Féblot-Augustins et al.29

Lithothèque de l’UMR 7055

Founded in 2008, by J. Féblot-Augustins.Collecting lithic reference material from variouscountries, notably 31 countries. Algeria,Germany, England, Brazil, Canada, Denmark,Egypt, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Gabon,Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan,Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Poland,Portugal, Czech Republic Slovakia, Switzerland,Syria, Turkey, USSR, USA.

In France, the following departments: Ain,Aisne, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Cantal, Charente,Charente-Maritime, Corrèze, Côtes-d’Armor,Dordogne, Drôme, Finistère, Gard, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Isère, Haute-Loire, Loire-Atlantique,Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, Oise, Rhône –Saône-et-Loire, Savoie, Seine-et-Marne, Somme, Val-d’Oise, Var, Vaucluse, Vienne, Yonne, Yvelines.

The collection is housed at UMR 7055 -Préhistoire et Technologie. Maison del'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie - René Ginouvès.21, allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex,France, curated by Jacques Pelegrin(jacques.pelegrin@mae.u-paris10.fr). Itcomprises 1137 items from 306 localities. Thecollection is open to scholarly research. For somesamples, they have exchange material as well.

The inventory is currently in the form ofExcel files.30

Israel

Housed at the Centre de recherche françaisde Jérusalem, a comparative collection has beenset up by Christophe Delage.31

28 at:

http://www.alienor.org/ARTICLES/lithotheque/index.htm andhttp://alienor.org/bibliotheque/lithotheque/lithotheque-charente_2010.pdf;

29 FÉBLOT-AUGUSTINS et al. 2010.30 available from J. Pelegrin31 DELAGE 1997a; 1997b; 2010.

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 235

Italy

Elisabetta Starnini informed us on a smallprivate raw material collection curated by FabioNegrino (archeoge@alice.it) at theSoprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria,Genova (Italy). It was founded in 2000 with theaim of supporting research on prehistoricexchange. The regional scope covers Liguria andNorth Italy mainly, with some coverage on moredistant European territories Currently thecollection involves about 50 localities. It is opento scholarly research and they have an exchangestock as well.

Romania

Information was provided and organisedfrom Romania by Magda Mantu and GheorgeLazarovici. My sincere thanks for their help.Accordingly,, there are at least three operatingcomparative raw material collections inLithotheca, at Cluj, Targoviste (information by E.Nitu) and the Hunedoara Museum (informationby C. Roman).

The Cluj comparative raw material collection(the oldest in Romania) is currently not availablefor research (information by M. Mantu).Relatedresearch was also reported by O. Crandell.32

Targoviste comparative raw material collection

Founded in 2007; focusing on raw materialsused on Romanian Palaeolithic settlements. It ishoused at Valahia University, Research Center“Prehistory, interdisciplinary archaeology andconservation of national patrimony”, curated byprof. univ. dr. Marin Carciumaru(mcarciumaru@yahoo.com) and drd. Elena-Cristina Nitu (elenacristinanitu@yahoo.com).The collection comprises over 500 items fromabout 100 localities. Is it open to scholarlyresearch. They can provide samples of rawmaterial for exchange.

The samples are systematically analysed bynon destructive analysis with digital microscopeVHX 600 (Keyence) for petrography andpaleontological study. About 100 sources of rawmaterials were analysed.

32 CRANDELL 2009.

Relevant publications comprise variouspapers by M. Carciumaru et alii.33

Corvin's Castle Museum Lithotheca (Hunedoara)

The collection was founded in: 2008. Theyare mainly concerned with collectingarchaeological raw materials from Hunedoaracounty. It is stored at the Corvin's CastleMuseum, curated by Sorin Tincu(sorin_tincu@yahoo.com). The following sitesare represented: Hunedoara-Prunilor street,Silvaşu de Jos-Dealul Ţapului, Valea Nandrului-La Dos, Nandru-Petac stream, Boş-Grui,Sântuhalm-Gheţărie, Herepeia, Căoi, Cioclovina,Brotuna, Cinciş-Cerna, mainly silex nucleus andflint blade samples, and primary geologicalsource material. It is open to scholarly researchand the have an exchange stock as well.

Analytical data are available for Cauce' cavesite here, i.e., macroscopic and microscopicanalyses, the location of the presumptive zone oforigin of the silica rocks (jasper, opals); cca. 40% of the material is analysed and store cross-section of siliceous rocks nodules used as rawmaterial for flint tools.34

Spain

Lithotheca UAM (Madrid)

Founded in 2007. Collecting raw materialsfrom Madrid Region. It is housed at the Dep.Prehistoria y Arqueología, UniversidadAutónoma de Madrid 28049 Madrid , Spain,curated by Javier Baena (Javier.baena@uam.es).The collection comprises primary and secondarydeposits from more than 200 sites in Madridenvirons. It is open to scholarly research; theyhave an exchange stock. The collection isinventorised.

LITHICUB – Litoteca de matèries primeresprehistòriques de la Universitat de Barcelona

Founded in 2007, focusing on lithic rawmaterials from Western Europe (Centre Portugal,Centre France, Ebro Valley, Catalan region). Thecollection is housed at the University of

33 CARCIUMARU et al. 2007; 2008; 2009; 2010.34 Relevant publications: BARBU 2007; LUCA et al.

2004; ROMAN 2008.

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Barcelona. Faculty of Geography and History.Laboratory of Archaeology, curated by Dr. JavierMangado (mangado@ub.edu). It comprises about100 items from around 50 localities. It is open forscholarly research. About 50% of the collection isanalysed by petrographical thin sections. Internet-based information is available atwww.lithicub.net.35

LITOCAT36 – Lithotheca of siliceous rocks fromCatalonia

Founded in December 2004. Thegeographical scope of LITOCAT focuses on theNortheast of the Iberian peninsula whichcorresponds to the present administrative territoryof Catalonia, including as well other neighbourregions (Aragón, Andorra and Languedoc-Roussillon). The reference collection and areasfor study and storage of samples and materials ofLITOCAT are located in the Institute “Milà andFontanals” (CSIC - Spanish National ResearchCouncil, Barcelona). Curators of the collectionare David Ortega (ortega@imf.csic.es) andXavier Terradas (terradas@imf.csic.es). So farthey have documented 258 locations withsiliceous rock outcrops in the study area, visitedand recorded 59. These 258 locations haveallowed to document up to 85 different types ofsiliceous rocks. Up to now they haveapproximately 1200 samples from the locationswhich have been visited and recorded (an averageof 20 samples per location). LITOCAT spaces areopen to all students and researchers interested inthe study of siliceous raw materials from North-Eastern Iberia and neighbouring regions. Thecurators are working on making available all theinformation related to the LITOCAT project onthe internet as soon as possible.

All locations are systematically recorded andsampled. A selection of samples from everylocation has been thin-sectioned and analysedthrough XRD. Occasionally ICP-MS analyseshave been done on some samples.

Exchange stock is available from some of thelocalities. Internet-based information is currentlyavailable at:http://imf.csic.es/web/esp/dptos/sochumanas-laboratorio3.asp?s1=4.

35 Further relevant literature: MANGADO et al. 2010.36 My favourite name - you all know why.

Sweden

Scandinavian flint Collection

Founded in: 2007, focusing on Scandinavianflint in general. Samples are collected from allknown flint localities in Sweden, Denmark andRügen, Germany. There are currently tworeference collections in operation, stored atDepartment of Archaeology and Ancient History,Lund University, Lund, Sweden and at MalmöMuseum, Malmö, Sweden. The Lund stock iscurated by D. Olausson(Deborah.Olausson@ark.lu.se), at Malmö by A.Hogberg (Anders.Hogberg@sydsvenskarkeologi.se).

The sampled localities cover all of Denmark.Flint localities in Sweden are mostly located inthe southern part; the most northern locality isKinnekulle. In northern Germany the chalk cliffsat Rügen were sampled. 17 types of flint areseparated; samples numbering between 1 and 10of each type. The collection is open to research aswell as the general public. Though they have noformal exchange stock, on request, they are readyto accommodate such needs.37 Analytical workby non-destructive energy dispersive X-rayfluorescence spectrometry is in progress; pilotstudy published by Hughes, R.E. et alii.38

Switzerland

In Switzerland, two regional comparativeraw material collections are in operation. Theyare basically connected to the research andscientific activity of Jehanne Affolter.39 The datapresented below are supplied from her directly.

The older collection has considerable past is.It is called Lithothèque de Référence (of AR-GEO-LAB), founded in 1986. It is collectingsamples of flint and chert in European scale. It ishoused at AR-GEO-LAB, Dîme 86, CH 2000Neuchâtel. The collection is curated by JehanneAffolter (affolterjs@bluewin.ch). The collectioncomprises items from more than 1200 localities.It is open to scholarly research with previousannouncement. For the most raw materials, theyalso have exchange samples. About 2/3 of thereference collection is analysed by non

37 HÖGBERG—OLAUSSON 2007.38 HUGHES et al. 2010.39 AFFOLTER 2002, 2009.

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 237

destructive sedimentary microfacies analysis inrelation to the archaeological use.

The Lithothèque de Référence in theLaténium was founded in 2002. It is collectingflint and chert from the Jura mountains andadjacent regions. The collection is curated byBéat Arnold and Jehanne Affolter(affolterjs@bluewin.ch). It is housed in the abovementioned Laténium at Espace Paul Vouga 2,CH-2068 Hauterive. The collection comprisesitems from 688 localities. It is open to scholarlyresearch (with previous announcement) andsometimes also to the general public. They have alimited exchange collection from the localitiesmost relevant for the archaeology. The samplesare all investigated by non destructivesedimentary microfacies analysis; with specialemphasis on their relation to the archaeologicallithic artefacts.

United Kingdom

Implement Petrology Group (IPG) NationalCollection of Thin Sections40

The collection originates probably from the1930s as a formal collection in its present form.

The scope involves basically the region ofEngland and the Isle of Man: it is the nationaldepository of all the thin sections studied by theImplement Petrology Committee (IPC) of theCouncil for British Archaeology and its successorImplement Petrology Group (IPG).

It comprises also, for information about thinsections of world wide significance, items basedon the collections of the British Museum, Londonand the Natural History Museum, London. Butthese this sections are owned by the Museums,and do not form part of the IPG NationalCollection. Some thin sections are known to be inprivate hands, although the numbers are notthought to be significant.

The collection is held mainly at four sites:Department of Mineralogy, National HistoryMuseum, London (remainder of English Countiesexcluding those listed below). (Dr Dave Smith; D.A.Smith@nhm.ac.uk); Lapworth Museum,University of Birmingham, UK; (EnglishMidland Counties (Jon Clatworthy,

40 Information supplied by Vin Davis, Chairman, IPG

UK

j.c.clatworthy@bham.ac.uk); Castle Museum,Taunton, UK (SW English Counties,swimpg@swfed.org.uk); IPG chief petrologist,York, UK (NW England, Dr R.V. Davis,rvindavis@gmail.com). The collection is curatedby Allison Fox (Isle of Man, Manx Museum,Douglas, allison.fox@gov.im).

The size of the collection is estimated aboutaltogether 3650 items (London 2000 slides;Birmingham 400 slides; Taunton 1000 slides;York 200 slides; Manx 50 slides). The use of thecollection is limited to scholarly research. Thereis no exchange stock, no opportunity to cutadditional material. The collection policy sincethe 1990s has been to make polished thin sectionsand retain rock fragments for geochemicalanalysis. Internet information is underdevelopment.

Most of the slides were analysed by opticalmicroscopy and about 1% also by geochemistry.

The catalogue of the collection waspublished by Cummins and Clough.41

Alan Saville informed us on somecomparative material collected by CarolineWickham-Jones available at the NationalMuseums Scotland; it is not organised into aformal collection.

Summary

Comparative raw material collections are anessential part of the tools in the service ofmodern, scientifically supported archaeologyimperative for the challenges of 21st centuryarchaeology. It is, however, not enough to carryon regional initiatives, it is important to knowabout each other's efforts. Internet-based moderntechnology can help us being in permanentcontact, much more than we are now.

Of course I cannot pretend that this list iscomplete; my means and time for constructing itbeing equally limited. I am most grateful for thepeople who helped me to collect information andhope I did not misunderstand their points.

41 CUMMINS–CLOUGH 1988.

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Figure 5.: Comparative lithic raw material collections according to the present survey

5. ábra: Összehasonlító nyersanyaggyűjtemények a kérdőíves felmérés és internetes kutatás alapján

The list is open for further completion andcorrections (Fig. 5.42).

42 The Lithothecas are numbered accordingly: 1.Lithotheca of the HNM; 2. Vienna-Lithothek(VLI); 3. Silex Lithotheca of the Institute ofArchaeologies, University of Innsbruck; 4.Anthropos Institute, Brno; 5. Lithothèque dunord-ouest du Bassin Aquitain des Eyzies; 6.Lithothèque du Bugey. Echantillons de référence;7. Lithothèque du bassin de la Charente Muséed’Angoulême; 8. Lithothèque de l’UMR 7055Nanterre; 9. Centre de recherche français deJérusalem; 10. Soprintendenza Archeologicadella Liguria, Genova; 11. Cluj comparative rawmaterial collection; 12. Targoviste comparativeraw material collection; 13. Corvin's CastleMuseum Lithotheca (Hunedoara); 14. LithotecaUAM (Madrid); 15. LITHICUB. Litoteca dematèries primeres prehistòriques de la Universitatde Barcelona; 16. LITOCAT42 – Lithotheca of

siliceous rocks from Catalonia; 17a.Scandinavian flint Collection Lund; 17b.Scandinavian flint Collection Malmö; 18.Lithothèque de Référence (of AR-GEO-LAB),Neuchâtel.; 19. Lithothèque de Référence in theLaténium Hauterive; 20a. Implement PetrologyGroup (IPG) National Collection of ThinSections London; 20b. Implement PetrologyGroup (IPG) National Collection of ThinSections Birmingham; 20c. Implement PetrologyGroup (IPG) National Collection of ThinSections Taunton; 20d. Implement PetrologyGroup (IPG) National Collection of ThinSections York; 20e. Implement Petrology Group(IPG) National Collection of Thin SectionsManx; 21. National Museums Scotland;Edinburgh.

COMPARATIVE RAW MATERIAL COLLECTIONS 239

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ÖSSZEHASONLÍTÓ NYERSANYAGGYŰJTEMÉNYEK A

PETROARCHEOLÓGIAI VIZSGÁLATOK SZOLGÁLATÁBAN:

ÁTTEKINTÉS

T. BIRÓ KATALIN

Kulcsszavak: kőeszköz nyersanyag, összehasonlító gyűjtemény, kovakőzetek, felmérés

Az összehasonlító gyűjtemények egyre fontosabb szerepet kapnak a modern régészetikutatásokban. Ezek az objektivitást, az egymástól távol eső területek kutatási eredményeinek azonosértelmezésének alapjait teremtik meg, segítségükkel jobban megismerhető a kutatás adottszínvonalának fogalomkészlete is. Különösen fontosak az összehasonlító gyűjtemények olyan esetben,amikor a régmúlt idők emberének rendelkezésére álló nyersanyagok forrásait kutatjuk. Ilyen tematikusgyűjtemény az őskori "kő" (=kőzet, ásvány) nyersanyagok kutatására létrehozott Litotéka. Az egyiklegkorábbi és legjobban dokumentált kőzetgyűjtemény a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeumban működik.Létrehozásában és rendezésében nagy szerepe volt - és jelenleg is nagy szerepe van - T. DobosiViolának. A Litotékához szükséges terepi kutatásokat a Magyar Állami Földtani Intézetben indítottukmeg. Az 1986-ban Sümegen megrendezett nemzetközi konferencia résztvevői nagy mértékbenhozzájárultak ahhoz, hogy már a kezdetektől ne csak a jelenlegi Magyarország területéről ismerjükmeg a felhasznált kőeszköz-nyersanyagokat. A gyűjtemény azóta is bővül, gyarapodik: már két teljesszakmai katalógusa jelent meg, leltározott anyaga számítógépes adatbázisban kutatható, azalapgyűjtemény internetes honlapon is elérhető és a Litotéka anyaga megjelenik a múzeum állandórégészeti kiállításának kincsei között is.

Akármilyen elszánt és kitartó is a gyűjtőmunka, földrajzi és ismereti határai vannak munkánkbelátható és elérhető teljességének. Szerencsére, erőfeszítéseinkkel nem vagyunk egyedül, bárérdemtelenül keveset tudunk egymásról. Az utóbbi években több helyen is indítottak hasonló célúszakgyűjteményt, amelyek változó komplexitásban és feldolgozottságban, de mind ugyanazt a céltszolgálják: jobban megismerni az őskori emberek rendelkezésére álló nyersanyagokat és támogatni aszármazási hely (=proveniencia) vizsgálatokat.

Tanulmányomban megkíséreltem a hasonló jellegű gyűjtemények felgyűjtését, kérdőíves felmérésés az interneten folytatott keresés segítségével. Nem állítható, hogy sikerült az összes jelentősLitotékát megtalálni, de remélem, hogy ez egy jó kezdet, ami elősegíti a hasonló gyűjteményekegyüttműködését.Őszinte köszönettel tartozom mindenkinek, aki ebben a munkában segített, közreműködött.

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